The Illinois Primary

I’m a Bernie Sanders supporter, I voted on Tuesday, March 15th.

It was very underwhelming. Politics just doesn’t do it for me anymore. I think it’s the people. Political lay people are very cliquey. You might even say divisive, and nothing can be more divisive then the 2016 Presidential Campaign season. It’s frankly appalling. I’m thankful that locally I haven’t seen much divisive partisanship, but that may be in direct correlation to my deviation from party politics. I’ll admit I jumped head first into the local Bernie Sanders campaign. I threw the Peoria Campaign kickoff party at Pizza Works way back in July, 2014. Quickly many folks who are less then radical emerged, and soon took the reins of the growing group, or consortium if you will, from me. That isn’t to say that I could have accomplished much on my own. But walking the party line has never been my thing. I believed that Bernie Sanders was going to make that cool again.

I love his policies. I stand for and align myself with the Judeo-Christian ethic of loving one another and caring for our neighbor, being our brother’s keeper, which his polices exhibit. I have to admit that while these policies are solutions to the problems we face as a nation; and to his credit, Bernie Sanders the man has been the most honest politician in the history of the United States. I’m afraid that his presidency will cause only more grid lock in congress. This isn’t to say I don’t want him elected, I voted and I’m hoping to defeat Hillary, then Trump. I however, remain a cautious idealist. We have very real problems and Bernie offers very real solutions. Solutions that have been options in some form, using varied terminologies and associated with both bad and good (depending on who you ask) since the dawn of industrialism, and before.

Social Democracy is nothing new, in fact we already have many forms of Social Democracy in this great nation and have since our founding. Our struggle against anti-democratic forces have manifested many great victories throughout history. Before our founding People fought against exploitation and slavery for millennium. The fight continues, liberty and the pursuit of happiness has not fully won the war, through history the people have won many battles. The fight isn’t over. We have struck a great balance with oppression and those that wield it. Consumer goods, appear like shadows on the cave wall, masquerading as liberty. Many buy what they’re selling. The radical sees the charade.

It isn’t often that radicals have someone to vote for. This year on both sides left and right, radicals have someone to vote for. While we’re not teetering on Anarcho-libertarianism, or radical Christian Socialism, or even intentional communities. We are however
in a much scarier place, somewhere in the gray and dirty center of the political spectrum. It’s going to have to get worse before it gets better. We are approaching fascism on the right and state capitalism on the left, both of which are establishment approved, though the establishment isn’t falling head over heels for either. We as a nation are entering places that Euro
pe has seen thrice over. We are entering a political discourse that is only new to us.

We the infant states of the globalized world.

“We the People, in order to form a more perfect union. Establish Justice and Insure Domestic Tranquility, Provide for the Common Defense and Insure the General Welfare, and Promote the Blessings
of Liberty to ourselves and our prosperity. We do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America.” – The Preamble